Changing-view display apparatus



H. M. RUSSELL.

CHANGING VIEW DISPLAY APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAYIZI l92|.

Patented July 18, 1922.

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H. N1. RUSSELL.

CHNGING VIEW DISPLAY AEPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY12, 1921.

Patented July 18, 1922.

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QM @111i 3./ Gf w wu IN VEN TOR HENRY M. RUSSELL, or WHEELING, vfEs'r vrneinie.

CHANGINGVIEW DSPLAY AETARATU Masses.'

Speciicationl of Lettersratent. Patented July i8,

Application filed May 12, 1921. Serial No. 468,956. l n

ToaZZ whom t may concern.' i

le it lnown that l, HENRY M. RussnLL, a citizen oi the United States, residing in the city of Viheeliiig, in the county of Ohio and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Chang-iuoView Display Apparatus, ot which the lollowing is a yspecifican tion.

My invention relates to improvements' in that class or display apparatus in which the subject displayed appears to change as the apparatus is viewed from different positions, and in which, it' the ditlerentviews of the subject are suitably selected and arranged, and the obse ver travels past the apparatus at a suitable speed, the subjectwill appear to execute some evolution involving the mou tion, appearance ordisappearance of some part or pai-ts, or all yoli the subject,1or kchange in Shade or color, or both, or involving both .motion and change in shade or color.` For brevity, l refer to this class of apparatus vas a changing-view apparatus .-to include both the rapid/change vfrom one to another of the successive steps of evolutionA whereby the `eye receives the impression ot' actualmovement, and also Jtolinclude a slower change, not :tast enough to give the impression .ot actual inoveinenton the par-t oi the subject, and also to include the complete change from one subject to another.

One object ot my 'invention is to provide a changing-view display apparatus which shall show a. number or.' different views, each view being complete, and being illuminated throughout the ent-ire lield. Another object ofmy inventionis to provide a changing view display apparatus `rwhich will fshow images o't au actual objectin its true form and color, and which may also be used to display pictures ot an'object. .Anotherobject ot' myinventioii is to'provideV an apparatus that Ais'simple', cheap lto construct, and Arequires no special illumination. Another object ot my invention is to provide an apparatus that is compact. s Another object is tov provide a. device in which the desired results may be obtained without the use ot mirrors,

\ thereby avoiding imperfections due to the thickness o't the glassof which a mirror is constructed. Another object is to provide a 'device in which all of the illumination may come from substantially *the samey direction. I attain these objects by apparatus,pre ferred forms ol: which are shown inthe accompanying drawings, in which Figul is a plan view .ot one form ,of theapparatus, and lig;.2iis ya liront view oit the same toi-m; Fig. 3 isa plan View ot another preferred torni ol' the apparatus, and'Fig. .fl is a front view of this second iorin. `Similarnumbers refer k,similar parts throughout :the 'several views. i l

.,lei-'erring now to tangular box withy an opening extending from 6 to-TL in its liront,y Sandy 9 are prisms ot transparent material placed at the sides' of this opening so as to leave a space between them.y :10,ll and l2 are pictures representingan object in different stages an evolutione-eiinthis case, thejmofon shown :tullin l0, half lullin ll;,`and slightly less than quarter l theliunction ol whichjwillbe explained later. The prisms Sand 9 are-made ot' a material liavingrsuch ayretractive-index, and having Figsl and 2, 5 isa recull m12. Alzliand let Iare screens, 1

suchfan angle, `that a ray` ort Ylight passing Vtrointhe center of picture l0, .through prism Y 9a-:will emergealonga line, which, il produced, would pass throughythe center of picture lh Likewise, prisin`9 will retract `a ray -oitlightlroin the center otpicture .l2

along a line, which, if produced, woul-dpass w through the center o'tipicture l1. The screens 'l and ,le are to prevent the observation of any picture save lO-.through prism Sgand to kprevent theobservation of'any picturegsave ill.- through the,A opening betweei'i@prisms 8 and. 9, and to prevent the observation of any .f picture save 12through prism 9. The operation olfl this Atorm oli the apparatus is as, lollows: llvhen au observer walks past the fronty oil? the apparatus,-he will first see piet-ure 'l0 through'prism,YS, but rpicture l0 will appear `to occupy the location actually occupied by .picture ll.. As he advances toward the fright, the edge o'lpicturej ltlavilldisappear. but tliecorresponding edge ot picture ll will take its place, and the observer will still apparently see a complete picture.` klVhen he gets to a point lwhere i ust hall? of picture il is visible, he -will see what appears to be a i complete picture, but in reality, half of it will be picture ll andthe other half will be picture l0. rllhe change will continue in this Vwayuntil he `sees the whole o 'l picture 1l, and then picture l2 will besubstituted for it ,lin the same way. The etl'ect produced Aisthat ,ot the object represented by the pictures changing from one condition to another.,`

In this lform, the pictures are, for convenience, placed inthe same plane. They will not, therefore, appear eXactly in the same plane, but as the surfaces of the pictures are flat, the error may be neglected, where, as in this case, the angle of refraction is not very great. y n

Turning now to Figs. 3 and 11, which show respectively a top view and a front view of another preferred form of the apparatus, the numeral 15 refers to a rectangular box which has an opening in its front extending from 16 to 17. 18, 19, 20 and 21 respec tively, are prisms. 22, 23, 24, and 26 respectively are different objects, alike as to some of their parts, but different as to other parts, so as to show the successive stages of an evolution.` 27, 28, 29 and 30 are screens to prevent any one of the objects from being seen through more than one prism, and to prevent the object 24 from being seen except through the space between the prisms 19 and 20. The objects in this case are glass cups. Cup 22 is full :of water; 23 has a little less water in it;2t is half full; 25 a little less than half full; and 26 is less than quarter full. rhe angles of the respective `prisms and their refractive indices are such that prism 18 will refract a ray of light coniing from the center of cup 22 through such an anglethat the ray of light that emerges from theprism 18 will be traveling in a line,

"which, if produced, would pass through cup 24; Cup 22 is placed the same distance from the center of prism 18 that cup 24 is from the middle point of the front of the box 15, andthe handle of cup 22 is turned back through an angle equal to the angle made by lines passing respectively from cup 22 and cup 211 tothe center of prism 1S. Cup 23 is similarly placed with respect to prism 19, and its handle is turned back through an angle equal to the angle which lines drawn from the center of cup 23 and the centerof cupA 24: would intersect at the center of prism 19. Cups 25 and 26 are similarly placed with respect to prisms 20 and 21, and

the angles and refractive indicestof prisms 2O and 21 bear the same relations respectively vto the location of cup 25 with respect to cup 2st, andthe location ofcup 26 with respect to cup 24, that the angles and refractive indices of prisms 19 and 18 bear respectively to the location of cup 23 with respect to cup 24, and the location'of cup 22 with respect to cup 24.

The operation of this form of the device is substantially similar to that of the preceding form. As an observer walks in front of t-he device, from left to right, he will first see cup 22, which is full of water. As he proceeds, a portion of the handle of 22 will A disappear, but it-s place will be taken by the corresponding port-ion of the handle of cup 23. .As he proceeds farther,a part of the body portion of cup 22 will, disappear, and will be replaced by the corresponding part have an off-set in it.

`of the saidv prisms.

of the body portion of cup 23. During all thistime' the cupwill appear as a single cup, but the surface of the liquid will appear to As the observer proceeds further, cup 22 will entirely disappear, and cup 23 will take its place. Cup 23 will be succeeded by cup 24; cup 24 will in turn be succeeded by cup 25; and cup 25 will finally be succeeded by cup 26. If the ob server passes rapidly, the effect will be that the level of the liquid will appear to move downward as though the cup were emptying itself. If the observer walks from right to left of the apparatus, the cup will appeal-.to fill itself.

When the angle of a prism is referred to in the following claims, it will be understood that a prism having its thin edge to the right i so as to refract the light to the left, will be that the apparent position of one of the said views, as vobserved through the prism, shall be the same as the 'actual position of the other of the said views, and screens to prevent the observation of one of the said views except through the said prism, and to prevent the observation of the other of the said views through the said prism.

2.- In a changing-view display apparatus, the combination of two views and two prisms, all so located with respect to each` other, that the image of one of the said views, as observed through one-of the said prisms, shall occupy the same apparent location as that occupied by the image ofthe other ofthe said viewsas observed through-g.

vthe otherof the said prisms.

3. `ln a changing-view display apparatus, the combinationl of `two views and two prisms, .all so located with respect to each other, that the image of one of the said views, as observed through one ofthe said prisms, Vshall occupy the same apparent location as that occupied by the image of the other of the said views as observed through the other of the said prisms, and

`screens to prevent the observation of either of thesaid views through more than one 4. In a changing-view display apparatus, the combination of a plurality of views and a plurality of prisms, the said prisms being of such angles and the said views and two objects and the two prisms being prisms being so located with respect to each other that the apparent location of one ot the said views, as observed through one of the said prisms, shall be the same as the apparent location of any other of the said views as observed through some other prism.

5. In a changing-View display apparatus, the combination of two objects, identical as to some of their parts, and two prisms, the so located with respect to each other that When portions of the images of both said objects are visible simultaneously through-the saidI prisms7 the portions of the two said images representing different portions of identical parts of the said objects shall register and form substantially a single image of the identical parts oi' the said objects.

G. In a changing-view display apparatus, the combination of two objects identical as to some of their parts, and a prism, the said objects and the said prism being so placed that when a portion ot one of the said objects is directly visible, and a portion of the image of the other of said 0bjects is simultaneously visible through the prism, the said Visible portion of the oney of said objects in part directly Visible shall register as to the identical parts of the said object with the visible portion of the image of the other of said objects, so that so far as the identical portions of the said objects are concerned, it will appear as a single object.

7. in a changing-view `display apparatus, the combination of a plurality of views and a plurality of prisms, the said prisms beingr ot such angles and the said Views and prisms being so located with respect to each other that the apparent location of one of the said views, as observed through one ot the said prisms, shall be the same as the apparent location of any other of the said views as observed through some other prism, and screens to prevent the observation ot any one of the said views through any save one of the Said prisms.

HENRY M. RUSSELL. 

